The First Word: NIMBY

On this day – the political fallout continues from the release of the base budget and the SBOE continues to meet.

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*Cut Spending! (Provided It’s Not In My District)*

After the House adjourned Wednesday, Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts took questions from fellow representatives about the starkly austere base budget. Peggy Fikac reports that one of the flashpoints of the questioning was a plan to close four community colleges that primarily serve rural areas. Three conservative members, who represent districts where three of the threatened community colleges are located, pointedly decried closing these institutions:

Three of four GOP lawmakers whose community colleges would lose state funding under a starting-point, bare-bones budget proposal publicly decried the proposed loss Wednesday.

“Reality has set in today, members. We have seen what the budget is going to look like, and we’ve got to go from now campaigning to governing this state of Texas,” said Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, whose district includes Ranger College, one of those slated to lose funding. “To me we’ve gotten off on a wrong foot.” He called the college-closing proposal “the height of irresponsibility.”

It’s a natural impulse for members to defend key government services — such as community colleges, which provide jobs and educational opportunities to the communities they represent. Still, this moment provides a valuable illustration of just how difficult it will be for members to cut state spending by the necessary 17 percent (assuming you use the $15 billion figure instead of the $27 billion figure).

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*The Rules Fight that Wasn’t*

The Senate passed the rules that will govern the body for the remainder of the session without much drama, Gary Scharrer reports. The rules include the exception to the two-thirds rule for the Voter ID bill, but no other exceptions were carved into place. The Senate also said that any budget proposal would have to lay on the table for review for two days before it would be voted on – it wasn’t the five days that Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, was asking for, but it marks a victory for what the senator has called his “honesty agenda.”

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*656 Days until Election Day*

With only 22 months until the election to decide who will take Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s seat (and a mere 14 months until the primary) – the race to replace the retiring senator is heating up. Michael Williams announced Wednesday that he has sent Gov. Rick Perry a letter stating his intension to resign his seat on the Railroad Commission. Williams said he is leaving the post to focus on running for the Senate. Former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, a favorite of conservative activists, also announced his intensions to seek the soon to be vacant US Senate seat.